Information transmission system

ABSTRACT

In a printer connected to a network, email appended with link information is prepared for enabling an administrator to access information about the printer network terminal. The email is transmitted to the administrator terminal at a predetermined timing. Then, the administrator terminal accesses the information based on the link information appended to the email. As such, when a problem occurs in the printer, operations for resolving the problem can be quickly undertaken by the administrator.

This is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/216,387filed on Aug. 12, 2002, which claims the benefit of Japanese PatentApplication No. 2001-245320 filed Aug. 13, 2001 and Japanese PatentApplication No. 2002-100885 filed Apr. 3, 2002. The disclosures of theprior applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a network terminal capable of notifyingan administrator terminal about information on network terminals, suchas printers connected to a network, by email.

2. Description of the Related Art

Printers can be connected to a network and shared by several people on anetwork. Some network printers are able to notify the networkadministrator about problems such as a sheet size error or when theprinter runs out of toner by sending information about the problem tothe administrator in an email message.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view representing an example of probleminformation to be sent to a network administrator by email. As shown inFIG. 15, conventional problem information includes status information 24and node information 25. The status information 24 indicates a summaryof the printer condition. The node information 25 indicates the name,type, and location of the printer. The email message that notified thenetwork administrator of the problem information will be referred to asthe “notifying message”, hereinafter. The notifying message isautomatically sent to the email address of the network administratorwhen a problem is generated at the printer. When the networkadministrator receives the notifying message, then he or she goes overto the printer indicated in the notifying message and solves the problemwhile referring to the notifying message.

However, if the network administrator must go to the printer in order tosolve problems, then it is very difficult for the network administratorto solve printer problems rapidly when the network extends over a largearea and the problem printer is not at a location near the networkadministrator.

Some networks include a printer server provided with a printermanagement tool that is capable of monitoring and manipulating theprinter. The network administrator inputs a commanded to the printermanagement tool from the printer server, or from a terminal that hasaccessed to the printer server, to manipulate the printer and overcomeproblems in the printer. However, the network administrator mustremember all the appropriate commands for manipulating the printer usingthe printer management tool. This makes the printer management tooltroublesome and complex to use.

Some printers are provided with a management page of a web-page formatthat can be accessed by specifying the address of the management webpage. In this case, the network administrator accesses the web server inthe printer from a terminal connected to the network and solves problemswith the printer through the management web page. However, if thenetwork administrator does not know or forgets the address of themanagement web page, then it will take time for the networkadministrator to access the management web page, resulting in a delay insolving the printer problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-describedproblems and provide a terminal information notification system, aterminal information notification method, and a network terminal thatfacilitates confirmation of internal information or the cause ofproblems when problems occur or when internal information is to beconfirmed or changed.

To achieve the above and other objects, there is provided according toone aspect of the invention a network terminal connected to a network,that includes: an information server that provides information about thenetwork terminal; notification means for notifying the information at apredetermined timing to a preselected address by email; manipulationscreen generating means for generating a manipulation screen forallowing an operator to perform settings of the network terminal, themanipulation screen being a part of the information provided by theinformation server; and link information appending means for appending,to the email, link information that links to the manipulation screen.

Link information appendage instructing means may further be provided forinstructing whether the link information appending means should appendthe link information. Also, detection means may further be provided fordetecting occurrence of problems in the network terminal. In this case,the notification means notifies information about a problem detected bythe detection means to the preselected address by email.

The link information appending means may append the link information ina case when a domain name included in the preselected address matches apredesignated domain name.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided anetwork terminal connected to a network, that includes: an informationserver that provides information about the network terminal;notification means for notifying the information at a predeterminedtiming to a preselected address by email; storage means for storing aplurality of different manipulation screens for allowing an operator toperform settings of the network terminal; screen selection means forselecting, from the plurality of different manipulation screens storedin the storage means, a manipulation screen relevant to the informationprovided by the information server; and link information appending meansfor appending, to the email, link information that links to themanipulation screen selected by the screen selection means.

Link information storage means may further be provided for storing linkinformation corresponding to each of the plurality of differentmanipulation screens.

According to still another aspect of the invention, there is provided anetwork terminal connected to a network, that includes: an informationserver that provides or changes information in accordance with requestsfrom another network terminal connected to the network; notificationmeans for notifying the information at a predetermined timing to aplurality of preselected addresses; notification information selectionmeans for selecting information to be notified to each of the pluralityof preselected addresses; and information appending means for appendinginformation selected by the notification information selection means toemail.

Detection means may further be provided for detecting occurrence ofproblems in the network terminal. In this case, the information providedby the information server is problem information representative of theproblems detected by the detection means. When the information appendingmeans appends the problem information to email, the informationappending means also appends to email the problem information that wasnot selected by the notification information selection means and thatwas selected for another address.

According to further aspect of the invention, there is provided aterminal information notification system including: a network terminalconnected to a network; and an administrator terminal that is connectedto the network and is capable of confirming information about thenetwork terminal, the information about the network terminal beingnotified to the administrator terminal by email. The network terminalincludes: an information server capable of submitting or changinginformation about the network terminal in accordance with a request fromthe administrator terminal; and link information appending means forappending, to the email, link information for accessing the informationserver. The administrator terminal includes: information server accessmeans for accessing the information server of the network terminal basedon the link information appended to the email notified by the networkterminal.

The network terminal may further include detection means for detectingoccurrence of a problem. The detection means notifies probleminformation to the administrator terminal by email when the detectionmeans detects occurrence of a problem.

According to further aspect of the invention, there is provided aterminal information notification method for notifying, by email,information about a network terminal connected to a network to anadministrator terminal connected to the network. In this method, in thenetwork terminal, email appended with link information is prepared foraccessing information about the network terminal and transmitted to theadministrator terminal at a predetermined timing. In the administratorterminal, the information about the network terminal is accessed basedon the link information appended to the email notified from the networkterminal.

According to still further aspect of the invention, there is provided anetwork system that includes a printer, a user terminal, anadministrator terminal, and an email server, all of which are connectedto a network. The user terminal is capable of using the printer throughthe network. The administrator terminal performs network managementoperations including settings and adjustments to the printer. The mailserver performs exchange of email messages between the printer, the userterminal, and the administrator terminal across the network. The printerincludes detection means, control page generating means, notificationmeans, and link information appending means. The detection means isprovided for detecting occurrence of problems in the printer. Thecontrol page generating means is provided for generating, based on theproblems detected by the detection means, a control page for allowing anadministrator to perform settings and adjustments of the printer. Thecontrol page is accessible with a unique address assigned to the controlpage. The notification means is provided for notifying information aboutthe problems in the printer to the administrator terminal by email byvirtue of the mail server. The link information appending means isprovided for appending, to the email, link information that links to theunique address of the control page. The administrator terminal includescontrol page accessing means for accessing the control page based on thelink information appended to the email transmitted from the notificationmeans. Thus, the administrator can set or adjust the printer through thecontrol page that can be accessed by the aid of the email transmittedfrom the notification means of the printer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the inventionwill become more apparent from reading the following description of theembodiment taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a network system according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functional groups in a printer of thenetwork system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart representing a main routine performed by a controlportion of the printer in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart representing a problem detection routine of themain routine shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5( a) is a schematic view showing a screen displaying an emailmessage prepared by the printer and addressed to an administrator whenit is set that an URL should be appended to the email message;

FIG. 5( b) is a schematic view showing a screen displaying an emailmessage prepared by the printer and addressed to an administrator whenit is set that an URL should not be appended to the email message;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing an administrator registration screenfor registering the email address and the like of the administrator inthe 223;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representing flow of processes performed in thecontrol integration portion 231 when a message addressed to anadministrator is prepared.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart representing flow of processes performed in thecontrol integration portion when the printer generates a control page;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a displayed screen of the controlpage generated by the web server;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing a screen displaying a modificationof the email message shown in FIG. 5( a);

FIG. 11 is a flowchart representing a status report preparation routineof FIG. 3;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing an email message addressed to theadministrator transmitted as a status report to the administrator;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view showing an administrator registration screenfor registering email address of the administrator;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart representing flow of processes performed in thecontrol integration portion when a control page is generated; and

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing a conventional email messageaddressed to the administrator transmitted as a status report to theadministrator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be describedwhile referring to the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a network system according to thepresent embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a printer 2, an administratorterminal 3, a user terminal 4, and a mail server 5 are connected to anetwork 1. The printer 2 serves as a network terminal of the presentinvention. The administrator terminal 3 is for performing networkmanagement operations such as settings and adjustments to the printer 2.The user terminal 4 uses the printer 2. The mail server 5 performsmanagement operations such as exchange of email messages with theterminals across the network 1.

The administrator terminal 3 and the user terminal 4 are well-knownpersonal computers installed with email and browser software to enabletransmission and reception of email messages and viewing web pages viathe network. The administrator terminal 3 and the user terminal 4 arealso installed with a printer control software, commonly referred to asa printer driver, for using the printer 2. The mail server 5 is awell-known personal computer installed with a SMTP server program formanaging transmission of email messages and a POP3 server program formanaging reception of email messages.

To facilitate explanation, the embodiment will describe only one each ofthe printer 2, the administrator terminal 3, and the user terminal 4connected to the network 1. However, it should be noted that more thanone of each can be connected to the network 1.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functional groups in the printer 2. Asshown in FIG. 2, the printer 2 includes an actuator portion 21, a localarea network (LAN) interface portion 22, and a control portion 23. Theactuator portion 21 is for performing operations of sheet feed,printing, and the like. The LAN interface portion 22 is for managingexchanges between the printer 2 and the network 1. The control portion23 is for controlling various components of the printer 2.

The actuator portion 21 includes mechanisms such as a printing mechanismand a sheet feed mechanism. A sensor 211 is provided for each mechanismin order to detect problems in the corresponding mechanism. Output fromthe sensor 211 is input into the control portion 23. Examples of sensor211 include a cover open/closure sensor, a paper feed sensor (a paperjam sensor), a temperature sensor to be located in a thermally fixingsection, a paper empty sensor, a software error sensor for sensing, forexample, shortage of memory capacity, a paper size sensor for sensingthe size of the paper and signaling when improper sized paper is loaded,and sensors for sensing an unloaded condition of ink cartridge or tonercartridge.

The LAN interface portion 22 includes a network control portion 221, amail preparation portion 222, and a mail settings memory 223. Thenetwork control portion 221 controls transmissions exchanged between thenetwork 1 and the printer 2. The mail preparation portion 222 isresponsible for preparing notification mail and appending the URL of acontrol page to the notification mail. The mail settings memory 223stores settings such as the address of the transmission target of anotification mail and whether it is necessary to append a URL to thenotification mail, or period at which the condition of the printer 2 isperiodically notified to the network administrator.

The control portion 23 includes a control integration portion 231, aprinter settings memory 232, a problem detection portion 233, a webserver 234, and a URL settings portion 235. The control integrationportion 231 processes commands and data that was transmitted over thenetwork 1 from the administrator terminal 3 and the user terminal 4 andintegrates operations of the actuator portion 21 and other components inthe control portion 23 based on the commands and data. The printersettings memory 232 stores settings set for the printer 2. The problemdetection portion 233 constantly monitors output from the sensor 211 ofthe actuator portion 21 to detect problem detection signals output fromthe sensor 211 when a problem occurs in the actuator portion 21. The webserver 234 provides a setting screen, a controller page, and other pagesin accordance request from terminals on the network 1. The settingscreen is for setting various settings of the printer 2. The web server234 generates the controller page, which is for performing operations tocontrol the printer 2. The URL settings portion 235 is for setting URLof the controller page each time the web server 234 generates thecontroller page.

The control portion 23 and the LAN interface portion 22 are formed bywell-known circuitry such as a central processing unit (CPU), randomaccess memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), an I/O, and a serialinterface. The functional blocks within the control portion 23 and theLAN interface portion 22 are realized by execution of programs.

When a problem such as a sheet size error occurs in the printer 2, theprinter 2 transmits a notification mail to the email address registeredin the mail settings memory 223. The notification mail specifies thelocation and type of the problem.

The printer 2 transmits the notification mail to the email address atthe notification timing, which is the period preregistered in the mailsettings memory 223, so that the user can know the condition in theprinter 2. The notification timing could be set for a period of timingsuch as every six hours. Alternatively, the notification timing could beset to every day, week, or month for example, wherein the time of day ofthe notification timing is also set. As a further alternative, thenotification timing could be set for a single time on a specific day ata specific time.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart representing a main routine performed by thecontrol portion 23 of the printer 2.

During the main routine of the printer 2, first whether or not a printcommand has come over the network 1 from the user terminal 4 ismonitored in S10. When it is judged that a print command has arrived(S10:YES), then a print routine is performed in S12. During the printroutine, the actuator portion 21 is controlled in the normal mannerbased on received data. On the other hand, if no print command isreceived (S10:NO), then whether or not a problem has been notified bythe problem detection portion 233 is judged in S13. If so (S13:YES),then a problem notification routine is performed in S14.

Further, if no problem is detected (S13:NO), then it is judged in S15whether or not the notification timing that is registered in the mailsettings memory 223 has been reached. If so (S15:YES), then a statusreport preparation routine is performed in S16. The status reportpreparation routine is for transmitting a notification mail thatindicates the condition in the printer 2.

Whether or not the notification timing has been reached is judged in S15based on whether or not a status report notification has been set and onwhether or not the set time has arrived or elapsed. Since the printer 2is not constantly ON, the notification timing may arrive while the powerof the printer 2 is turned OFF. Therefore, whether or not the set timehas elapsed is confirmed in association with when the power is turnedON. If it is judged that the set time has elapsed, then a status reportis sent to the administrator immediately.

The main routine is repeatedly executed at a predetermined timing. Thepredetermined timing is every millisecond in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart representing the problem detection routineexecuted in S14 of the main routine shown in FIG. 3. The controlintegration portion 231 executes processes in the order indicated in theflowchart when a problem occurs.

As shown in FIG. 4, when a problem occurs in the printer 2 and theproblem detection portion 233 detects input of a problem detectionsignal from the sensor 211 of the actuator portion 21, then in S110 thecontrol integration portion 231 determines which sensor 211 generatedthe problem detection signal, determines the location and content of theproblem, and judges whether it is a problem that needs to be notified tothe administrator.

When it is judged that the problem needs to be notified to theadministrator (S110:YES), then in S120 it is confirmed whether or notthe email address of the user of the user terminal 4 is stored in themail settings memory 223. When it is determined that the email addressof the user is registered (S120:YES), then in S130 the controlintegration portion 231 requests that the mail preparation portion 222prepares a notification mail for the user. This notification mail willbe referred to as an “email message addressed to the user” hereinafter.Next, it is confirmed in S140 whether or not the email address of theadministrator that uses the administrator terminal 3 is registered inthe mail settings memory 223. It should be noted that if it isdetermined that the email address of the user is not registered in themail settings memory 223 (S120:NO), then it is confirmed in S140 whetheror not the email address of the administrator is registered in the mailsettings memory 223 without requesting preparation of an email messageaddressed to the user.

When it is confirmed that the email address of the administrator isregistered in the mail settings memory 223 (S140:YES), then in S150 themail preparation portion 222 is requested to prepare a notification mailfor the administrator. The notification mail for the administrator willbe referred to as a “message addressed to the administrator”hereinafter. At this time, if addresses for more than one administratorare registered, then the mail preparation portion 222 is requested toprepare a separate message for each administrator.

According to the present embodiment, the user's email address and thelike is registered using the printer driver installed in the userterminal 4. However, in contrast, the administrator's email address isregistered using a manger registration screen provided to theadministrator terminal 3 by the web server 234. The embodiment could bemodified so that the user's email address is registered using the webserver 234 and the administrator's email address is registered using theprinter driver. Registration need not be performed using a printerdriver, but could alternatively be performed using a printeradministrator application software installed in the administratorterminal 3 or the user terminal 4.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing an administrator registration screenfor registering the email address and the like of the administrator inthe 223.

As shown in FIG. 6, the administrator registration screen 33 includes aserver address registration space 14, administrator address registrationspaces 15, 16, an administrator selection section 17, a URL requirementsetting category 18, an permission domain registration space 19, and asetting confirmation section 20. The server address registration space14 is where the INK PARTICLES address of the mail server 5 isregistered. The administrator address registration spaces 15, 16 arewhere the email address of a plurality of administrators are registered.The administrator selection section 17 is for determining whichadministrator is to be notified for which problems. The URL requirementsetting category 18 is for setting whether the URL of the controllerpage is to appended to email messages addressed to the administrator.The permission domain registration space 19 sets the controller pagethat can only be accessed by an administrator with a particular domainname. The setting confirmation section 20 is for designating whether thesettings should definitely applied to email messages addressed to theadministrator.

The administrator registration screen 33 is supported by a graphic userinterface that enables settings for the server address registrationspace 14, the administrator address registration spaces 15, 16, and thepermission domain registration space 19 to be designated by merelyinputting the IP address, an email addresses, and a domain name,respectively. A selection or requirement can be set in the administratorselection section 17 and the URL requirement setting category 18 bymerely clicking on square frames at the immediate left of each categoryand then using the setting confirmation section 20 to confirm thesettings.

When the administrator's email address and the like are registered orset in the administrator registration screen 33 and the settings areconfirmed using the setting confirmation section 20, then the settingsin each category are sent to the control integration portion 231 overthe network control portion 221. After the control integration portion231 processes the settings, then the control integration portion 231stores the settings in the mail settings memory 223.

It should be noted that the administrator registration screen 33 isstored in the memory as a piece of settings information of theadministrator terminal 3. The administrator registration screen 33 isretrieved from the memory for updating the settings. After settings areupdated, then the settings information is sent over the network 1 to theprinter 2 and stored in the mail settings memory 223 of the printer 2.

Although not shown in the drawings, several registration screens similarto the one shown in FIG. 6 are prepared for registering a variety ofsetting information. The email address of the printer 2 can beregistered using such a registration screen. The registered emailaddress is inserted into the “From:” space of the header information 40shown in FIGS. 5( a) and 5(b) so that the administrator that receivesthe message addressed to the administrator will know where the messagecame from.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representing flow of processes performed in thecontrol integration portion 231 when a message addressed to anadministrator is prepared.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the mail preparation portion 222 prepares anemail message addressed to an administrator, the control integrationportion 231 first confirms in S210 whether the mail settings memory 223is set to append the URL to an email message addressed to anadministrator. If it is set that the URL is to be appended (S210:YES),then in S220 a request is made to the web server 234 to generate acontrol page.

Next, in S230 a request is made to the mail preparation portion 222 toappend, to the email message addressed to the administrator, the URL ofthe control page determined by the URL settings portion 235. In S240, itis requested that problem information be appended to the email messageaddressed to the administrator. The problem information includeslocation and content of the problem. As a result of the above steps, anemail message that is addressed to an administrator is prepared and sentto the email address of the administrator.

When the control integration portion 231 confirms that settings of themail settings memory 223 indicate that the URL is not to be displayed(S210:NO), then in S250 it is confirmed whether it is allowed to appendthe URL to only the notification mail with the particular domain name.If so (S250:YES), then in S260 it is confirmed whether the particulardomain name matches the registered domain name. If so (S260:YES), thenin S220 the control integration portion 231 requests the web server 234to generate a control page.

If it is confirmed that it is not allowed to append the URL tonotification mail with the particular domain name (S250:NO) or it isconfirmed the particular domain name does not match the registereddomain name (S260:NO), then the mail preparation portion 222 isrequested to append problem information to the email message addressedto the administrator, without requesting the web server 234 to generatea control page or requesting that the URL of the control page beappended to the email message addressed to the administrator.

The processes of S250 and S260 can be modified, or new processes can beadded, so that when the domain name in the email address of the printer2 matches the notified domain name, then a request is made to the webserver 234 to generate a control page and a request is made to the mailpreparation portion 222 to append the URL of the control page determinedby the URL settings portion 235 to the email message that is addressedto the administrator.

FIG. 5( a) shows a screen displaying an email message addressed and sendto an administrator when a problem occurs. As shown in FIG. 5( a), theemail message 30 addressed an administrator includes header information40, a status notification 6, node information 7, the URL display portion8, and other information 41. The status notification 6 indicates thecondition of the printer 2. The node information 7 includes informationsuch as the name, device type, and location of the printer 2. The URLdisplay portion 8 is a hypertext link to the URL of the control page.The other information 41 includes a page count and informationindicating to the other administrator selected using the administratorselection section 17 of the administrator registration screen 33 shownin FIG. 6 that a problem occurred. In this case, the other administratoris administrator 2.

Because the email message 30 addressed an administrator is configured inthis manner, the administrator will be able to quickly grasp thecondition of the printer 2 and details of problem generated at theprinter 2. Also, the administrator can access the control page by merelyclicking on the URL display portion 8.

When it is set that an URL should not be appended to the email message,but the domain name of the administrator does not match the permissiondomain, then as shown in FIG. 5( b), an email message 31 addressed anadministrator is sent to the administrator along with the headerinformation 40. The email message 31 addressed an administrator includesonly status notification 9, node information 10, and other information41, but has no URL for the control page appended thereto.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart representing flow of processes performed in thecontrol integration portion 231 when the printer 2 generates a controlpage. As shown in FIG. 8, when the control page generation routine isstarted, then in S310 the control integration portion 231 extractselements used in the control page that corresponds to the problemcontent. Then the control integration portion 231 supplies the elementsto the web server 234 in S320. The web server 234 combines the extractedelements to generate a control page.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a displayed screen of a control page32 generated by the web server 234. As shown in FIG. 9, the control page32 includes an error display portion 11, an operation content selectionportion 12, and a transmit button 13. The error display portion 11indicates content of the problem that occurred in the printer 2. Theoperation content selection portion 12 is for selecting the category ofoperation to be performed at the printer 2. The transmit button 13 isfor transmitting content of the selected operation to the printer 2.

The control page 32 is supported by a graphic user interface in the samemanner as the administrator registration screen 33 and displays circularframes to the left of the operation categories of the operation contentselection portion 12. The administrator selects desired operationcategories by clicking in the circular frames to the left of theoperation categories. As a result, a black dot is displayed in thecenter of the clicked circular frame to indicate that the operationcategory was selected. The administrator can transmit the operationcontent to the printer 2 by merely clicking on the transmit button 13.

The operation content selected by the administrator is transmitted tothe control integration portion 231 over the network 1 and the networkcontrol portion 221. After processing the operation content, the controlintegration portion 231 controls to overcome the problem and stores newsettings relating to the printer 2 in the printer settings memory 232.

Next, an explanation will be provided for operations of the network 1including the printer 2 with the above-described configuration withreference to FIG. 1. When the user commands the user terminal 4 toexecute a printing operation, then (1) the user terminal 4 transmits aprint execution command to the printer 2. The printer 2 starts printingoperations when it receives the print execution command. If some sort ofproblem occurs at this time that prevents the printer 2 from printing,then the printer 2 generates a notification mail and a control page and(2) transmits the notification mail to the mail server 5.

The printer 2 is preset with the email addresses of the administratorthat uses the administrator terminal 3 and the user that uses the userterminal 4 as transmission targets. Also, the administrator terminal 3and the user terminal 4 are set to periodically access the mail server5. For this reason, when the printer 2 transmits email messagesaddressed to the administrator and the user, then (3) the administratorterminal 3 and (4) the user terminal 4 receive notification mail fromthe mail server 5.

The email message addressed to the administrator is appended with theURL link to the control page. When the administrator clicks on the URLlink and (5) accesses the control page, then (6) the printer 2 providesthe control page to the administrator terminal 3.

This configuration enables the administrator to quickly take care ofproblems when a problem occurs in the printer 2. A network terminal canbe realized that facilitates operations for overcoming problems.

The embodiment describes the email message 30 addressed to theadministrator shown in FIG. 5( a) with an appended link that theadministrator clicks to display the control page 32 shown in FIG. 9.However, email message 50 addressed to the administrator shown in FIG.10 is appended with alternative methods for overcoming problems in theprinter 2. In this case, the administrator needs to merely select one ofthe appended methods to overcome the problem at the printer 2. Theselected method is then newly set in the printer 2 and stored in theprinter settings memory 232. In the same manner as the control page 32,when the administrator selects an operation category by clicking on thecircular frame to the left of the operation category, then a black dotwill be displayed in the center of the circular frame to indicate thatthe operation category was selected. The administrator merely needs toclick on the transmit button 13 to transit the content of the desiredoperation to the printer 2. As an alternative, a different URL can belisted for each method for handling a problem so that the user cantransmit content of the desired operation to the printer 2 by merelyclicking on the corresponding URL. In this case, in S230 of FIG. 7 themail preparation portion 222 appends URLs to the different controlfunctions of the printer 2 to the email message addressed to theadministrator and S220 of FIG. 7 can be dispensed with.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart representing flow of processes that correspond tothe status report preparation routine in S16 of FIG. 3, which areperformed in the control integration portion 231 at a preset timing.

When it is detected that the time has arrived to send out a statusreport and the status report preparation routine shown in FIG. 11 isstarted, then in S510 it is judged whether preparations are completedfor tasks to prepare the status report.

If so (S510:YES), then in S520 the control integration portion 231confirms whether the email address of the printer 2 is registered in themail settings memory 223. If so (S520:YES), then in S530 the controlintegration portion 231 it is confirmed whether the email address of theadministrator that uses the administrator terminal 3 is registered inthe mail settings memory 223. If so (S530:YES), then in S540 the mailpreparation portion 222 is requested to prepare a notification mailaddressed to the administrator. When settings are registered fornotifying status reports to a plurality of different administratorterminals, then the status report preparation routine of FIG. 11 isexecuted separately based on settings for each administrator terminal.At this time, if the email addresses of more than one administrator areregistered at the same notification timing, then requests are made toprepare notification mail for each administrator one after the other.

When the email address of either the printer 2 or the administrator isnot registered in the mail settings memory 223 (S520 or S530:NO), henthe control integration portion 231 ends the status report preparationroutine without requesting that an email message be prepared addressedto the administrator.

The printer 2 and the administrator are registered using theadministrator registration screen provided by the web server 234 to theadministrator terminal 3.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view showing an administrator registration screenfor registering email address and the like of the administrator in themail settings memory 223 so that the status report about the printer 2can be periodically transmitted to the administrator. As shown in FIG.13, an administrator registration screen 70 includes an administratoraddress registration portion 71, a notification timing setting portion72, and a setting confirmation portion 73. The administrator addressregistration portion 71 is for registering the email address for eachadministrator. The notification timing setting portion 72 is for settingtiming at which the status report is to be sent to the administrator.The notification timing setting portion 72 enables setting anotification timing of daily, weekly, or monthly. For this reason, ifthe more than one administrator terminal 3 is connected to the network1, then a notification timing can be set separately for eachadministrator terminal 3. The setting confirmation portion 73 is for theadministrator to confirm that settings, such as the administrator'semail address, are correct.

The embodiment describes that settings, such as whether the URL of thecontrol page should be appended to email messages addressed to theadministrator and whether only an administrator having a particulardomain name, are set according to settings of the administratorregistration screen 33 shown in FIG. 6. However, the administratorregistration screen 70 can be set up separately for these settings.

It should be noted that the administrator registration screen 70 issupported by a graphic user interface. The administrator addressregistration portion 71 can be set by merely inputting the emailaddress. Also, selections and settings about necessity can be set in thenotification timing setting portion 72 by merely clicking in thecircular frame to the left of the corresponding category or inputtingthe desired time. The setting confirmation portion 73 can be operated bymerely clicking on the button that corresponds to the desiredconfirmation operation.

When the email address of the administrator is registered and settingsare entered in the administrator registration screen 70 and the settingsconfirmed, then the information from each setting category istransmitted to the control integration portion 231 through the network 1and the network control portion 221. After performed processes, thecontrol integration portion 231 stores information in the mail settingsmemory 223.

The processes performed in the control integration portion 231 whenpreparing the email message addressed to the administrator aresubstantially the same as those represented in the flowchart of FIG. 7,but differ in that a request is made for preparation of a main page ofthe web server 234 instead of the control page.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing an email message addressed to theadministrator transmitted as a status report to the administrator. Asshown in FIG. 12, an email message 60 addressed to the administratorincludes header information 62, date information 63, node information64, a URL display portion 61, a status information 65, and consumablesinformation 66. The header information 62 shows the time and date thatthe email message was transmitted. The node information 64 includesinformation such as the name, device type, and location of the printer2. The URL display portion 61 shows the URL for linking to the mainpage. The status information 65 indicates use conditions of the printer2. The status information 65 indicates use conditions of consumableitems such as toner. In the present example, the status information 65is toner information.

The information listed on the email message 60 addressed to theadministrator can be in a predetermined format or can be selected by theadministrator. When each administrator desires to be notified aboutdifferent information, then the email message 60 can be modified toenable different settings for each administrator. In this case,information such as that selected by other administrators, such as theadministrator 2, can be added to the email message 60.

The email message 30 addressed to the administrator enables theadministrator to periodically grasp the use condition of consumables andthe status of the printer 2 and to access the main pages by merelyclicking on the URL display portion 8.

When it is set that the URL should not be displayed and the domain nameof the administrator does not match the permission domain name, then theemail message addressed to the administrator is transmitted to theadministrator without appending the URL of the main page.

Next, a printer 2 according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention will be explained.

The printer 2 of the second embodiment differs from the printer 2 of thefirst embodiment only in a portion of the functions in the controlportion 23 and in the method for generating the control page.Accordingly, explanation will be omitted for portions that are the sameas in the first embodiment, and explanation for the second embodimentwill focus on dissimilar areas.

According to the second embodiment, the control integration portion 231stores an ID appended to each type of problem that can occur in theprinter 2. When a problem occurs in the printer 2, then the type ofproblem is determined and the corresponding ID is outputted to the webserver 234 and the URL settings portion 235.

The web server 234 prestores a control page for each type of problem inone-to-one correspondence with each ID. When an ID is input from thecontrol integration portion 231, then the web server 234 selects thecorresponding control page from the plurality of control pages.

The URL settings portion 235 prestores, in one-to-one correspondencewith the different problem types, URLs that correspond to each of thecontrol pages stored in the web server 234. When an ID is input from thecontrol integration portion 231, then the URL settings portion 235supplies the corresponding URL to the mail preparation portion 222.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart representing flow of processes performed in thecontrol integration portion 231 when a control page is generated. Whenthe control page generation routine shown in FIG. 14 is started, thenthe control integration portion 231 outputs in S410 outputs the ID thatcorresponds to the problem that occurred in the printer 2 to the webserver 234 and the URL settings portion 235. Then, in S420 the webserver 234 selects the control page that corresponds to the problem andthe URL settings portion 235 selects the URL that corresponds to thecontrol page. The web server 234 waits for the administrator to accessthe selected control page. The mail preparation portion 222 appends theselected URL to an email message addressed to the administrator andtransmits the email message to the email address of the administratoralong with information about the problem.

When the administrator receives the email message addressed to theadministrator and clicks on the URL appended to the email messageaddressed to the administrator, then web server 234 provides theselected control page to the administrator terminal 3.

In the same manner as in the first embodiment, according to the secondembodiment, when a problem occurs in the printer 2 operations forresolving the problem can be quickly undertaken. Also, a networkterminal with simple operations for solving the problem can be realized.The printer 2 of the second embodiment prestores control pages. When aproblem occurs. The printer 2 selects the corresponding control page andprovides it to the administrator terminal 3. Therefore, processes forpreparing the control page are simpler than in the first embodiment,where a control page is generated each time a problem occurs.

While the invention has been described in detail with reference tospecific embodiments thereof, it would be apparent to those skilled inthe art that various changes and modifications may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of whichis defined by the attached claims.

For example, the embodiments describe the present invention applied to aprinter. However the present invention can be applied to a facsimilemachine, a label printer, or a multifunction peripheral, which includestwo or more of a printer function, a facsimile function, and a scannerfunction.

The information notified from the network terminal to an administratoris not limited to problem information, but could any kind of informationthan can be notified using an email messages, such as informationindicating an empty or near empty condition of consumables such as ink,toner, or recording sheets of the printer 2. When the informationrelates to consumables, then the information could further include modelname of the consumable and contact information on where to order theconsumable.

Also, if the network terminal includes a printer function, then theprinter function can be used to printer out the notification mail whenthe notification mail is transmitted to the administrator terminal.

Further, the network 1 need not be a wire LAN, but cold be a wirelessLAN or wireless technology such as BlueTooth can be used instead.

1. A network terminal comprising: a main unit; a detection unit thatdetects a problem occurring in the main unit; a storage unit thatrelates the problem to a link information for indicating informationrelated to the problem and stores the problem and the related linkinginformation; a reading unit that reads out the related link informationfrom the storage unit when the detecting unit detects the problem; and atransmission unit that transmits the link information read by thereading unit to a predetermined address.
 2. The network terminalaccording to claim 1, further comprising an email preparation unit thatprepares email including the link information read by the reading unit,wherein the transmission unit transmits the email prepared by the emailpreparation unit.
 3. The network terminal according to claim 2, furthercomprising an address storage unit that stores email address, whereinthe transmission unit transmits the link information to the emailaddress stored in the address storage unit.
 4. The network terminalaccording to claim 3, wherein the address storage unit stores aplurality of email addresses, and the transmission unit transmits thelink information to each of the plurality of email addresses.
 5. Thenetwork terminal according to claim 2, wherein the email preparationunit appends the link information to a body of the email.
 6. The networkterminal according to claim 5, wherein the email preparation unitappends the detected problem and the related link information to thebody of the email.
 7. The network terminal according to claim 5, whereinthe email preparation unit appends an ID identifying the networkterminal, and the link information to the body of the email.
 8. Thenetwork terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a print unit.